The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for manipulating sheet-like products, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus for gathering and storing stacks of sheets. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which can be utilized with advantage as a means for gathering and temporarily storing stacks of photographic prints and the like.
Many amateur photographers desire to obtain developed photographic films and prints of all frames, or selected frames, or freshly developed photographic films as expeditiously as possible. This has given rise to the establishment of large numbers of photographic laboratories which specialize in so-called one-hour service, i.e., developed photographic films and the corresponding prints of selected frames, or all frames, of the developed films are available to customers within 60 minutes from the time of delivery of exposed but undeveloped films. As a rule, a photographic laboratory which specializes in such so-called one-hour service utilizes two apparatus, namely a film developing machine and a so-called minilab which is a combination of a film copying machine and a developing machine for photographic paper. A drawback of many presently known apparatus is that their space requirements are excessive and that they can be properly serviced only by skilled or reasonably skilled persons.
Attempts to reduce the space requirements of presently known apparatus which are utilized to rapidly complete the development of exposed photographic films and the making of necessary prints include the utilization of endless conveyors which define a series of compartments for stacks of developed photographic prints. Each compartment receives a stack of freshly developed prints which belong to a particular customer order. The conveyor is provided with its own motor which advances the compartments along an endless path so that successive compartments reach a loading station for reception of stacks of prints. Such prints have issued from a developing machine for photographic paper and are stacked by dropping them into the compartment at the loading station. The conveyor is advanced by a step as soon as the compartment at the loading station has received a full stack of prints belonging to a particular customer order. One or more attendants are employed to withdraw stacks of prints from their compartments and to introduce the withdrawn stacks into customer envelopes. Such envelopes further receive the corresponding exposed and freshly developed customer films.
The walls or partitions which flank the compartment at the loading station are normally inclined to the vertical to facilitate introduction of photographic prints. Such partitions are thereupon caused to assume substantially vertical positions while a next-following compartment is in the process of receiving prints at the loading station. In order to maintain the prints of an assembled stack in proper positions relative to each other, the dimensions of the partitions must be selected with a view to ensure that the prints in the compartment between them will remain parallel or nearly parallel to each other as well as to the nearest partitions. This is possible only if the height of an upright partition at least equals one-half the height of a print in the adjacent compartment. Thus, the height of partitions must be selected in such a way that it equals or exceeds one-half the height of the largest or longest prints to be stacked in the compartments of the conveyor. This necessitates the utilization of relatively large and bulky partitions which contribute significantly to the bulk of the conveyor and hence to the bulk of the respective apparatus. The situation is aggravated due to the fact that the partitions must extend outwardly well beyond their carrier (such as a belt or chain) not only along that stretch or run of the carrier which is adjacent the aforementioned loading station but also along the other (return) stretch or run of such carrier. In other words, the space requirements of the conveyor are increased by twice the increase of the length of a partition.